Trudeau Is Ready To Break A 100-Year Promise To Veterans

April 6 is the hundredth anniversary of Prime Minister Borden's speech to the soldiers about to take part in the Battle of Vimy Ridge. He promised those men that there was a moral obligation to them if they were to return home injured. Since then the Liberal and Conservative governments have argued against those words.

With the recent budget, I will be entering my 11th year without a life long disability pension, 9 years under the Conservatives and now two with the Liberals. The Trudeau government campaigned on the reestablishment of these pensions. Three times they made public overtures to that effect that in fact if and when they formed government they will re-establish the life long pensions that they took away in 2006 to begin with.

Trudeau Liberals betray open and fair government pledges

When heading a minority government, Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued parliament on two occasions to avoid defeat.

When his government was found in contempt of parliament for failing to reveal costs of new fighter bombers the transgression did not hurt his political fortunes. Shortly thereafter, in 2011, his minority government was re-elected with a majority.

Bet on it: Canadians are going to remember Trudeau's broken vow

Then came the work of the Electoral Reform Committee, including public consultations and that dubious online questionnaire. Former minister of democratic institutions Maryam Monsef, now bus-kill, kept making all the right noises. Marc Mayrand at Elections Canada even said that if there had to be a referendum (which the Liberals opposed), there would be time to do one and still change the system for the 2019 election. And then the bottom fell out.

Next to “the dog ate my homework,” the prime minister’s explanation for un-committing to his commitment has to go down as one of the lamest excuses on record from any Canadian leader. Trudeau told the country that there was no “national consensus” on how to change the voting system. He even made a stab at the oldest political alchemy of all — turning his political bad faith into a virtue. The Liberals would not change the voting system, he claimed, because it would be “irresponsible” to do something that would harm Canada’s “stability.”

Trump's Casino Broke a Big Promise to Give Millions to Charity

In 1993, Donald Trump wanted to open a riverboat casino about 40 miles from Chicago in the troubled and violent city of Gary, Indiana. But he had a problem: Gary wasn't keen on him. City officials were skeptical of Trump's vow to invest in the city. After all, Trump's Atlantic City casino empire, $1.5 billion in debt, was on the brink of bankruptcy. They recommended that the state grant Gary's two riverboat gambling licenses to other companies.

Trudeau calls UN goal to boost aid spending ‘too ambitious’

OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — whose rookie government likes to boast “Canada is back” — is scaling back Canada’s support of a key UN goal to boost international aid spending, calling it “too ambitious.”

In an exclusive interview with the Star just hours after he pledged a new unbudgeted $785 million boost to Canada’s contribution to the global fight against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, Trudeau acknowledged Ottawa has no intention of meeting the international goal to spend .70 per cent of gross domestic product on foreign aid anytime soon.

Deceit and democracy: Do broken election promises matter? Part 2: The role of the media

This is the second of a two part series by Osgoode law professor and former NDP Member of Parliament for Toronto-Danforth, Craig Scott. Read Part 1 here.

In Part 1 of this two-part article, I initiated a discussion of the significance of election promises for our democratic political culture by first focusing on pre-budget Liberal government departures from their campaign commitments, and then by considering the Liberals' campaign plan to limit their deficit to $10 billion. I also devoted much of the piece to acknowledging an NDP government would have had an even greater challenge to meet its spending commitments, but that ultimately a transparent, frank justification for taking an unexpected $18 billion deficit as a starting point would have been an option, just as it is currently an option for the Liberal government.

Deceit and democracy: Do broken election promises matter? Part 1: Liberals with the truth

Breached promises in Tuesday’s federal budget raise questions about honesty and accountability in our electoral democracy.

Have the Liberals driven the final cynical nail into a coffin in which we should bury any pretense that campaign platform promises can be relied upon by voters? Have they banished naïveté from Canadian politics for good by yet again "proving" that the malleability of at least some campaign commitments is the price of (Liberals) keeping Conservatives from power?

Trudeau stuns environmentalists with dubious LNG plant approval

There is a phase in political popularity when a leader is above criticism.

That is where Justin Trudeau sits right now — a man astride a mountain of ice cream.

His sometimes critics, including yours truly, are dismissed by his supporters the way Trudeau himself disposed of Stephen Harper, who, despite fawning attempts by media enablers to airbrush the dark decade, remains an anchor dragging down the Conservative party’s attempt to reinvent itself.

Did Harjit Sajjan read his mandate letter?

In Justin Trudeau's mandate letter to defense minister Harjit Sajjan he ordered him to "end Canada's combat mission in Iraq and Syria." But as former defense minister Jason Kenney, who has bravely served this country as a four-star collector of World War II paraphernalia, pointed out with this graphicon Twitter, our airstrikes continue. 

Obama's Foreign Policy Promises Then and Now

WASHINGTON -- The White House announced on Friday that a small number of U.S. troops are heading into northern Syria to assist local ground troops in the fight against the Islamic State.

Though the deployment of ground troops is a somewhat expected extension of the air war the U.S. has conducted over Iraq and Syria since last August, the announcement is in stark contrast with President Barack Obama’s 2013 promise of no "boots on the ground" in Syria.

Guantánamo Is Leaving Obama With Choices, Neither of Them Simple

As President Obama approaches his final year in power, a political impasse over the Guantánamo prison appears increasingly likely to force him to choose between two politically unsavory options: Invoke executive power to relocate the remaining detainees in defiance of a statute, or allow history to say he never fulfilled his promise to shutter the prison.

While the administration is slowly whittling down the population of those deemed a lower risk — including the transfer Friday of a prominent prisoner, Shaker Aamer, to Britain — its plan also calls for moving at least five dozen higher-level detainees to a prison on domestic soil. But statute bars that move, and the Republican-controlled Congress has shown little interest in revoking it. Mr. Obama vetoed a defense bill on Oct. 22 in part because it kept the restriction.

Cameron shouldn’t be allowed to break his tax credit promise. Here’s the solution

Imagine that David Cameron had announced at the general election debates exactly how he was going to save billions in welfare. “Ladies and gentlemen, I promise you that we will reclaim £4.4bn from this country’s working poor. We will slash working tax credit and children’s tax credit till the pips of Britain’s impoverished-employed squeak. I stand here today to give you the undertaking that 3.3 million poor people will be on average £1,300 worse off.”

Elizabeth Warren Details Obama's Broken Trade Promises

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) issued a report Monday morning detailing decades of failed trade enforcement by American presidents including Barack Obama, the latest salvo in an ongoing public feud between Warren and Obama over the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Obama is currently negotiating the major trade pact with 11 other nations. While the text of the TPP agreement remains classified information, it is strongly supported by Republican leaders in Congress and corporate lobbying groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The deal is opposed by most congressional Democrats, along with labor unions, environmental groups and advocates of Internet freedom.

Is John Tory keeping his 'One Toronto' promise?

In the lead up to the October election, Mayor John Tory campaigned heavily on the notion of 'One Toronto'. The idea, Tory said, was to unite the seemingly disparate enclaves of the city into a single, functioning municipality free of the fractiousness that marked the last several years at City Hall.

A key tenet of that strategy was to include representatives from across the city and across the political spectrum in Toronto's top offices, particularly on the executive committee.

The promise Stephen Harper made to voters in 2011 – and broke in 2014

The 2011 Conservative Party of Canada election platform (picture with link above) made a very specific promise to voters who were parents with children under the age of 18. Here is how the Family Tax Cut, as it was called in 2011, was presented to voters:

…couples with the same number of children and the same total income are not treated equally. A two-income couple, in which one spouse earns more than the other, pays more federal income tax than a two-income couple in which the two spouses earn equal amounts. And a single-income couple pays even more.

We will soon be in a position to take an historic step forward to achieve greater fairness for families. We will establish the Family Tax Cut   : income sharing for couples with dependent children under 18 years of age. This will give spouses the choice to share up to $50,000 of their household income, for federal income-tax purposes. This important new measure will be implemented when the federal budget is balanced within our next full term in office.

The results will be significant tax relief for approximately 1.8 million Canadian families – each of them saving, on average, $1,300 per year. Most of all, it will ensure that the federal income tax system respects and supports the choices that families make. It will increase fairness for single-income couples. And it will ease the burden on double-income families, by allowing them to keep more of what they earn and to benefit more from having a second income.

Paper Bill And Statement Fees Continue To Frustrate Canadians

Despite a promise in last year’s throne speech to eliminate paper bill fees for Canadians, the federal government has yet to take action to cut the charges that annoy many consumers.

Canadians haven’t hesitated to share their frustrations about those fees, something CBC’s Marketplace discovered when the show called on people to nominate the fee they think is Canada’s Dumbest Charge.

Why Does China Get To Renege on Its Promise of Democracy in Hong Kong?

I was in Hong Kong in July 1997 when Britain transferred its sovereignty to China in return for promises to slowly democratize the former colony. There was excitement in the air, and gigantic fireworks displays for two evenings. But the anxiety was palpable the day after celebrations when we all woke up to Chinese tanks and troops positioned along several main thoroughfares.

The show of force sent a message and launched speculation as to whether China would keep its grand promises.

Now we know.

DND breaks promise, dismisses PTSD soldier

OTTAWA - National Defence has done an about-face and revoked an offer that would have allowed a soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder, who spoke publicly last fall about his attempted suicide, the right to an extended release from the military.

Master Cpl. Kristian Wolowidnyk's story made headlines across the country in November when it was revealed he tried to take his own life after the army put him on the fast-track for dismissal.

The military backed down when his case became public, but just last week reversed itself and said he doesn't qualify.

Payroll taxes up despite low-tax claims by Jim Flaherty

OTTAWA—Despite the Conservatives’ oft-heard statement that they have lowered taxes, Canadian workers are handing over more in payroll taxes—as much as $180-a-year more as a result of increases in Employment Insurance (EI) premiums under Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

In the upcoming federal budget, Flaherty will be sure to point out that, beginning in 2017, the Conservatives want EI premiums set on a seven-year break-even track, which is expected to reduce what workers and employers send to Ottawa to pay for EI.

Opposition parties say broken Redford promises leave an opening

EDMONTON - With a trail of broken promises from Alberta’s premier and a backlash over two widely-criticized labour bills, a vacuum has opened in the province’s political landscape that the NDP and Liberals say they’re ready to fill.

Despite sweeping to an election victory with a promise to balance the province’s budget and remain debt free, Premier Alison Redford delivered a deficit in a budget that included billions in borrowing for infrastructure such as roads and schools.